San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced Sunday that she’s lending some of her own staff to help the city’s troubled public school district, whose top official narrowly avoided termination just hours earlier.
Hours after the San Francisco Unified School District’s governing board wrapped up a meeting in which it considered firing Superintendent Matt Wayne, accepted the mayor’s offer.
In a news release Sunday afternoon, Breed said she’s carving out $8.5 million for the School Stabilization Team to help SFUSD overcome its dysfunction. The team will be led by Maria Su, who helms the city’s Department of Children Youth and their Families, and Recreation and Parks Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg.
Our public schools are in a difficult moment: looming closures, a worsening financial outlook, and an uncertain future. This is hard for families and educators, and as a graduate of SF public schools, I know how important they are for our kids.
— London Breed (@LondonBreed) September 22, 2024
Today I am directing a new team… pic.twitter.com/dAKDlgvBcr
The emergency meeting this weekend in which the SFUSD’s Board of Education ultimately decided to retain Wayne comes as the district faces a state takeover and mulls a plan to close schools in response to falling enrollment.
“Our public schools are in a difficult moment: looming closures, a worsening financial outlook, and an uncertain future,” Breed wrote on X in a post that included an open letter about her decision. “This is hard for families and educators, and as a graduate of SF public schools, I know how important they are for our kids.”
The mayor also tapped Dr. Carl Cohn, former superintendent of Long Beach and San Diego unified school districts who also served on the California Board of Education.
“I look forward to working with Mayor Breed’s team in helping SFUSD through this critical situation they are now experiencing,” Cohn said in a prepared statement. “Throughout my decades of experience working in California across many levels, I understand the challenges for districts and how to tackle them.”
Money for the mayor’s effort comes from a 2022 measure that unlocked city money to help SFUSD with so-called Student Success Funds for urgent needs. That’s on top of the $100 million the city already provides annually to its K-12 district.